The present invention pertains to a puzzle or game which involves arranging multiple puzzle pieces to reach a puzzle solution.
Puzzles or games of various shapes and sizes that involve a user arranging and rearranging puzzle pieces to achieve a specified solution are well known in the art. Many puzzles, including many jigsaw puzzles, have two-dimensional puzzle solutions. Such puzzles include for example the widely recognized Chinese puzzle known as the tangram that involves combining seven, geometric puzzle pieces into a larger, square shaped puzzle solution. Other puzzles, including some jigsaw type puzzles, involve combining three-dimensional puzzle pieces into a three-dimensional structure. All of these puzzles are usually played with by a user as a source of an enjoyable challenge or entertainment. These puzzles also serve to improve the cognitive abilities of many users, especially children, and can therefore be a valuable educational aid or learning tool.
One limitation of many puzzles, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,290,761, 2,900,190, and 3,811,203, is that the puzzle pieces are intended to be assembled into a puzzle solution which is primarily two-dimensional in configuration. Consequently, while entertaining and to a certain extent challenging to a user, these puzzles do little to encourage three-dimensional conceptualization.
Another shortcoming of some puzzles is that the individual puzzle pieces are only useful in forming the overall puzzle solution. For example, the seemingly randomly shaped pieces associated with common jigsaw puzzles are of little use except when assembled together to form the puzzle solution which is typically an aesthetically pleasing picture. As the puzzle pieces are not manipulatable as miniature puzzles in and of themselves, the pieces of many puzzles, absent an active imagination by a user, consequently have limited utility.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a puzzle which in a preferred embodiment both forces the puzzle user to think in three dimensions during the solving of the puzzle as well as provides puzzle pieces which may be considered smaller, individual puzzles for a user to manipulate and enjoy.